Oil pressure regulator



Oct. 3, 1933. G. R BERRY 1,929,108

0 IL PRE S SURE REGULATOR Filed July 18. 1929 2 Sheets-Sheet l gwoentoz Oct. 3, 1933. s. P. BERRY on, PRESSURE REGULATOR l d July 18 1929 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Patented Oct, 3, i 1933 PATENT OFFICE OIL PRESSURE REGULATOR George P. Berry, Detroit, Mich., assignor to -General Motors Research Corporation, De-

troit, Mich, a corporation of Delaware Application July 18, 1929. Serial N svazos V 11.0laims. (01. 184-6) 7 It is a general object of this invention to provide improved means andmethods suitable for use in the lubrication of internal combustion enginesand the like; and the present embodiment of 5 the invention illustrates the application of its various features to a so-called slide valve engine,- which may be generally similar to that described and claimed incopending patent application S. N. 32.5,88l, filed Dec. 13, 1928. I 1 I l I In engines of the type referred to, the pressure under which the oil is delivered may advantageously vary inversely with themanifold vacuum; and the present embodiment aims: (1) to give a comparatively low pressure upon the lubricating oil at low speed and light load, higher pressure being applied to the oil as the speed and/or load increase; (2). to utilize, in determining the oil delivery, pressure-responsive means such as may be provided by a special unit having a com- L ZO municating connection with a manifold,-this connection opening into a space at the back of a valve which controls the relief, or the extent of a by-pass opening, through which excessof W pumped oil may be diverted and returned directly or indirectly to an oil pan, or the like, serving as a reservoir for said oil. 1 7

It is a further object of the present embodiments of the invention (3) to provide delivery- I m facilitating means, preferablyutilizing novel features of pump construction, for imparting to and through the pumped oil comparatively rapid anticlogging variations in pressure or rate of advance, these being favorable to prompt and reliable operation of the mentioned valve means and also to an efficient delivery of oil, by novel means included in the present invention, through outlet passages to the respective bearings which require lubrication. As above implied, this invention, in its application to. an engine, may involve a combinational use of various means and methods in mutually cooperative novel relationships; but said invention alsoincludes (4) a pressure-regulator unit, above referred to, in which a by-pass outlet'is controlled by a valve which is so connected with a bellows, or the like, that the extent of opening of said outlet or other passage is rendered responsive not only to the pressure of the pumped fluid but to one or more opposing pressures,--such as may be produced by the mentioned connection, from the interior of said bellows, with any suitable evacuating or pressure determining means, and/or by the use of a thermally responsive device and/or by means of an adjustable or other the mentioned unitto variations in pressure; and

spring; and this unit is obviously capable-of numerous alternative uses.

It is a further object. of this invention (5) to provide an integral combination of such a unit as is last above referred to with a suitable pump,- said pump preferably including features of construction adapted toproduce variations in pressure, or in the rate of advance of the pumped fluid, such as are favorable to the sensitiveness of sluggishly adherent to the walls of passages; and it, is accordingly a further object of this invention (6), to provide, for use in the mentioned combinations or elsewhere, novel flow-as suring devices which involve the use of a pu1sat-' ing variation in the pressure upon the pumped liquid, -'said devices each preferably includi a P; helical spring and being so simple as to be suitable for economical duplication at each delivery opening. The illustrated forms of this device are herein referred to as oil-metering plugs for the reason that each may include, with or without the mentioned helical spring, a small and loose-fitting plunger, disposedwithin a guide passage which serves for thedelivery of oil, or the like; and this plungenif used, may be re ciprocated either by mechanical means or'by means such as the mentioned variations in pressure under which the oil is conducted thereto. These flow-assuring or pulsating devices may be modified according to the intended position of use, and/orthey may be extensively duplicated in each installation; the conjoint use of a suitable spring and a suitable plunger in each device produces results which are notably superior to those obtainable by the separate use of either of these features; and ('7) the mentioned 9 appended claims and the accompanying drawings.

Fig. 1 is a highlydiagrammatic view, without scale, in which most parts pertinent to the present invention are shown as if in section, some parts being shown as if in elevation and other parts as broken away.

Figs. 2 and 3 are respectively detail sectional views which may be regarded as taken in planes such as are indicated by the lines 22 and 33 of Fig. 1.

Fig. 4 may be regarded as a vertical or other longitudinal sectional view separately showing a regulator resembling that which is shown in Fig. 1; and Fig. 5 is a section on? line 55 of I Fig. 4.

Referring first to the upper right-hand portion of Fig. 1, to lubricate a surface 10, an oilmetering plug comprising a tubular body '11 is shown as provided not only with an interior compression spring 12, retained in a delivery passage by a clip 13, but with a loosely fitting plunger 14, mova'ble from a position near the inlet tosaid passage, said plunger being normally pressed or otherwise biased toward said position near the inlet end 15 of said tubular body; and oil, or the like, may be delivered to said inlet end through a hollow head or manifold element- 16, man equivalent chambered connection. The plunger or plug 14 may be provided with a pressure-receiving annular, circular or other face 17;

and either the body 11 or the plunger 14 maybe provided with means, such as a finger loop or other stop element 18, to limit the outward movement of said plunger under the action of the spring 12 or. its equivalent.

To assure delivery of a sufficient quantity of oil even when making a cold start, automatic relief means such as one or more channels 19 may be provided within the tube 12, a relatively free delivery being effected therethrough whenever the plunger 14 is forced well toward its limit of compression; but it should be noted that 5; both the spring 12 and plug or plunger 14 are and this clearance is intended to be such that,

under normal conditions of operation, the delivery is pulsating,someoil being advanced at all times past said plunger. Assembly may be efiected in any desired manner, as by welding at 20.

At A in Fig. 1, a tube 11a is shown as cast integral with an engine block and as extending through a cooling water space in such manner as to effect delivery of oil toa surface 10a and to a pair of slide-valve plates 21a and 22a,these being shown as provided not only with superficial lubricant-distributing channels 23d but with intercommunicating but non-coincident passages 24a. In this embodiment a head or mani: fold element 16a which may supply a plurality of plug tubes is to be understood as communicating with a single supply pipe or conduit 25a (corresponding with a pipe 25, to head 16) and a similar relationship may subsist between pipes 25b and 250' shown in connection with units B and C,additional characters, corresponding to those above employed, being applied ,to these units, with an addition of an a" or a b or a 0.

Referring to the unit B in Fig. 1, the tubular element 11b is shown as terminally threaded at 26b and as provided with a wrench-receiving head 1612. In this form, the spring 12b is shown as terminally modified to provide an integral retaining clip 13? entering a peripheral channel 27b (corresponding to the channel 2'7 and the channel 27a, of the respective forms shown in the upper portion of Fig; 1; and the plunger 14b, rather than the tube receiving the same, is shown as provided with longitudinal channels 19b'-although a part of the bore of said tube may be slightly enlargedto cooperate therewith, as at 1922. Lubricant delivered through the tube 11b, as the plunger 14b is caused to reciprocate therein (whether by variations in pressure upon a terminal surface 172) thereof or by other means) may advance through a duct 28b, to lubricate a slider 2% or other moving part; and it should be understood that any desired number of branches, such as 25, 25a and 25b, and 250 may beconnected with a cominon-sourceof lubricant under pressure, such as a pipe 30,-this pipe being directly or indirectly connected with a'suitable source of oil and said oil being preferably subjected, in order to reciprocate said plungers and/or said springs, to rapid variations in pressure. This may be done by means such as a specal pump P, hereinafter'described, delivering into pipe or conduit 30. Y

The'previously illustrated provisions for self clearance by protrusion when retracted may, gen erally speakingbe'more advantageous than any provision for such a valve action as is suggested by the'showing of-a seat at 18c; and it will be obvious that the tubular body and the head of a delivery unit such as that last described might be made so substantial as to permit it to be pressed or driven into a suitable opening provided therefor; and obviousalso that the type of unit employed may often depend (a) upon whether it is on old equipment or on new equipment that the unit is to be used, (b) upon the position of use; and (0) upon the ease with which therequisite tubes or passages might be cast or otherwise formed in place upon new work; but, 'by way of further illustration, there is shown at C 'a form of delivery unit in which one end of a tubular element lie is expanded after insertion, as by a pressing, a welding, a swaging or a spinning of the same in place; channels 190, if used, being formed before or protected during the operation. From this or any unit, when positioned favorably to'the'action of gravity on a plunger such as 140, all springs may be omitted; or either or both of the springs shown at 12c and 120 may be employed,-the latter serving as a tension spring when extended by pressure applied through (say) delivery pipe 250 (shown as by-passing a regulatorR) to areas 170, 170, or the like. In this connection, it is further emphasized not only that the character of each plunger and the spring employed therewith may vary with the position of use, the character of the oil and the expected ranges of temperature and pressure but that the springs must not be understood to be the only available means for plunger reciprocation nor to function exclusively'as such means. The filmbrea'k'ingor agitating and incidental warming effects of the springs (even when not provided with electrical connect ons -adapting them momentarily to serve as resistance heaters at starting) may be so important as to justify the view that the plungers serve. primarily as manipulating means therefor.

Referring now to the pressure regulator shown in Fig. 4, this will be seen to comprise a main body 31 provided with a main passage in the form of an inlet opening at 32, communicating with an oil supply line represented by a T 33 and with a's'ocalled by-pass'outlet Opening 34,-the advance ofany excess oil from said inletto -said by-pass outlet being dependentupon the extent'of opening of a hollow or other valve 35 relatively to a fixed seat 36. In order to render movements of the valve 35 dependent not only upon the pressure applied to an outer surface 37 thereof, exposed tothe pumped lubricant or other liquid, but to an interior or back pressure opposing that upon surface 37, said valve is shown as containing a compression spring 38; instead of seating directly against a fixed element such as a closure plate 39, shown as secured to the body 31 by screws 40, the power of said spring may be rendered variable by adjustment of a threaded or other stop element 41; and/or, whether or not the plate 39 is provided with a comparatively long inwardly extending, guide 42 for said spring, an integral inwardly extending boss may provide not only a stop for valve 35 and internal threads for engagement by the stop 41 for spring 38 but additional threads, as at 43, for use in connecting therewith a pipe 44, through wh ch a fluid may be introduced or withdrawn for the purpose of varying the internal pressure upon the valve 35, or its, equivalent, in accordance with variations in a remote body or condition.

In case the pipe 44, or its equivalent, is to be so employed as to provide for an automatic or other remote control of the pressure prerequisite to a given opening of the valve 35 to obviate leakage and to assure reliable operation, said valve element may be "ball ground and/or may have somewhat the illustratedform of a cup or thimble, preferably with an ample clearance opposite a tubular portion 45,-with which a bellows 46 maybe connected by a fluid-tight joint so formed 5 that guide 42 may serve as a stop, limiting the inward movement of valve 35. A peripheral flange upon said, bellows is shown as gripped, with the interposition of a gasket 47, between a flange 48 upon thebody 31 and a peripheral portion of the plate 39. j

When used in a lubricant system, a conduit 49 may connect one side of the T with a suitable pump or othersource of supply and. a conduit 50 may connect the other side of the T with a delivery conduit 30 or the like, the overflow out-' let 34 may lead into any suitable receptacle for oil, or'back into a crankcase or oil pan; and control pipe 44 or its equivalent maybe connected with the intake manifold of the engine. It can readily be seen that if the spacesinsidethe bellows were left open to atmospheric pressure the device would function simply as a relief valve, the pressure under which oil is delivered being determined by the load which the spring and/or the atmosphere applies. However, when the space inside the bellows is evacuated, the oil pressure necessary to openthe relief valve is less, the amount of change in the oilpressure being determined by, for example, the depression in the. manifold and bellows.v Thus, when the space inside the bellows is connected to the intake manifold of the engine, at part throttle v(when the vacuum in the manifold is high) the oil pressure necessary to open the relief valve is lower than it is when the engine throttle is opened wide trol a pressure upon one delivered fluid by variationsin a pressure applied to the back of a relief valve,as by means of a vacuum connection; but Fig. l nevertheless includes at R. a showing of a special form of pressure regulator with which is incorporated a novel pump that is adapted to cooperate with all mentioned features.

In the lower central portion of Fig. 1, pulsations in pressure being requisite to the above mode of operation of the described springs and/0r plungers and advantageous also for'an anti-clogging effect in the operation of a'regulato: E, a regulator body 31? is shown as cast integral with the body of pump P; and (reference characters being applied to the regulator of Fig. 1 in the same general manner as they have been applied to Fig. 4 but with an r added) the bellows-connected pipe'4'4r is shown as leading to a manifold 51. Diagrammatically, the overflow outlet 341' is shown as leading, by a pipe 52, toward an open trough or receptacle 53,-into which connecting rods '54 may clip, for a splash effect; and an overflow pipe 55 is shown as thence conducting excess oil back to a pan 56,into which intake pipe 57 of the pump'P may extend.

In addition to a body 58, provided with an inlet opening 59 and outlet opening 60 (which, in this embodiment, corresponds to the T inlet 49 shown in Fig. 4 as provided for the admission of oilpressure to the outer surface'of the regulator valve) this pump P comprises the usual pair of tightly interfitting and intermeshing gears 61, 62; but, in order to provide desiredpulsations, as a preferred means for the operation of the described delivery plugs and as favorable tothe sensitivenoss and reliability of action of the described regulator valve, one or both of. the gears 61, 62, or corresponding parts of any alternativepump, may be provided with means assuring rapid but moderate variations in pressure, or pulsations in the movement of the oil or other fluid advanced by said pump. For the purpose last referred to, for example, one or two or more teeth of one or both of the gears 61, 62 may be slotted, as at 63 and/or 63',.in thegeneral manner'separately illustrated in Fig. 3.

In actual tests it has been ascertained that the use of a pump of this type is highly advantageous as a'means of producing comparatively rapid reciprocationof the springs 12, etc., and/or the plunger 14, etc.; and that separate effects are attributable to'the action ofsaid springs-"preventing the lodgement or freezing of oil films within the comparatively inaccessible tubes 11, etc. The precise rate of reciprocation of the mentioned moving parts appears relatively unim-' portant, from to 200 reciprocations per minute being satisfactory; and it will be understood that, after an initial rise in pressure in case the engine is cold, such rise in pressure being terminated as the mentioned reciprocation and other obvious factorswarm the oil, the'return of the ,plungers 14, etc. (from forward positions overlapping the channels 19, etc. to positions such as those in which said plugs are shown) automatically restricts the flow past said plugs to that permitted by the mentioned clearances. Adjustment of the pressure normally maintained may be effected by varying the position of the stop 411; if desired, a valve 64 comprising the special plug 65, may be so advanced or otherwise manipulated in the conduit 441- as to render the pressure within the bellows 46r momentarily high and independent of that within the manifold 51,to provide for exceptionally high pressure when starting cold;

and it will be understood that, regardless of whether or not the valve-351' may normally remain open, the trembling effect produced by a pump of the special typedescribed is favorable to the sensitive operationof a regulator of the described character as well as to theoperation of the described plungers and/or springs.

Although of subordinate interest, there is shown in Fig. 1, an oil-metering plug in which are used compression spring 120 and a tension spring 12c (additional characters including a 0 being applied to this figure constantly with the usage of the preceding figures) but it should be understood not only that numerous additional alternative forms of the respective devices herein described might easily be devisedbut also the various features thereofmight be independently employed-without the slightest departure from the spirit and scope of the present invention; and that both said springs may be omitted when the circumstances and positions of use assure gravity action; and also that operation by mechanical means may seldom or never be more advantageous than use of hydraulic means of the general character described, to manipulate either flow-accelerating helices or clearance-providing plungers. I claim: i

1. In an oil distributing system: means forproducing rapid variations in pressure within an oil conduit leading to a delivery passage;' and delivery-facilitating means reciprocable in said passage; g

2. In an oil distributing system: means for producing rapid variations inpressure within an oil conduit leadingtoa delivery passage; anddelivery-facilitating means reciprocable in said passage by said variations in pressure.

3. In an oil distributing system: means for prol ducing rapid variations in pressure within an oil conduit leading to a delivery passage; and delivery-facilitating means reciprocaole in said passage,--said means including a plunger and means for its retraction.

4. In -a lubricant distributing system for an engine having a manifold; means for conducting oil to delivery passages; means for advancing the oil thereto under pressure; and means, including a valve, to render such advance responsive to variations in pressure within said manifo1d,one of said means being provided with means for subjectingv said valve, when unseated, to anticlogging vibrations.

5. In' a lubricant distributing system for an engine having a manifold; means for conduct! ing oil to delivery passages; means for advancing the oil thereto under pressure; and means, including a valve, to render such advance responsive to variations in pressure within said manifold,-one of said means being provided with means for subjecting said valve, when unseated,

to. anti-clogging vibrations, and said passages being provided with delivery means responsive to said vibrations. i

ameter movably mounted in said passage, said plunger being of such'cross-sectional area relative to the area of said passage as to normally provide a small amount of clearance therebetween through which-the lubricant may flow, and means associated with said passage adapted to increase the amount of clearance between the plunger and the wall of said passage when the pressure on said plunger is increased.

. 7. In a lubricant distributing system, means adapted toconduct the lubricant under pressure to a deliverypassage, a plunger of uniform diameter movably mounted in said passage, said plunger being of such cross-sectional area relative to the area of said passage as to normally provide a small amount of clearance therebetween through which the lubricant may flow, the wall of said passage having grooves formed therein whereby when the plunger is caused to move in the passage by an increase in the lubricant pressure,- an increasing amount of clearance will be provided between the plunger and the wall of the passage.

,8. In alubricant distributing system, means for producing intermittent relatively large variations in pressure within a conduit leading to adelivery passage, and means located in said passage serving as a metering device to limit the quantityof lubricant which may flow through said passage, said metering means being adapted to move longitudinally in said passage as the lubricant pressure increases and decreases, for the purpose of removing congealed lubricant from said passage.

9. In a lubricant distributing system, means for producing intermittent relatively large variations in pressure within a conduit leading to a delivery passage, and a plunger located in said passage, the clearance space between the plunger and the wall of the passage serving as a metering orifice through which the lubricant flows, said plunger being adapted to move longitudinally in said passage as the lubricant pressure increases'and decreases for the purpose of removplunger being adapted to be moved in one direction in said passage by an increase in the lubricant pressure,'and resilient means located in said passage adapted to move the plunger in the opposite direction when the lubricant pressure is decreased, whereby the resultant reciprocating movement of the plunger in the passage removes congealed lubricant from the clearance space between the-plunger and the wall ofthe passage.

11. In a lubricant distributing system for an engine, means for conducting oil to delivery passages, and means for advancing the oil thereto under pressure comprising a gear pump having intermeshing teeth, some of the teeth being so formed as to cause variations in the discharge pressure of said pump.

GEORGE P. BERRY. 

